


Friends or Boyfriends (Choose one only, please)

by puffythepig



Category: Persona 4, Persona Series
Genre: Confession, Day One, Fluff, Language, M/M, souyoweek2016
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-13
Updated: 2016-06-13
Packaged: 2018-07-14 19:43:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,861
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7187513
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/puffythepig/pseuds/puffythepig
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Yosuke really wants to go to a Nickelback concert, but the closest one is out of town, and Yosuke's dad doesn't think Yosuke really deserves it. Souji tries to disprove that thought.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Friends or Boyfriends (Choose one only, please)

"Dammit," Yosuke sighed, scrolling through the tour page for Nickelback. He glanced over at his best friend, his face lush with annoyance, "they're not coming to Inaba."

"Are they coming anywhere near here?" Souji asked, trying to get Yosuke's smile to climb back onto his face in hope, but it didn't work. 

"Oh!" Yosuke exclaimed, lighting up for a split second before his face fell again. "They're going to the big city, but Dad's been really riding my ass lately. He probably won't let me visit the big city." 

Souji nodded sadly, scanning over the page. "Looks like that's as close as they're coming, too." 

"Well, shit. Guess I won't get to ever see them in person." Yosuke shook his head and closed the laptop, rolling onto his back so that he was staring at his best friend's bedroom ceiling. Shaking his head, Yosuke rolled onto his side to face his best friend, whom offered him a smile. Scrunching up his face, Yosuke practically hissed. "What're you smiling about?" 

"We could do a Nickelback karaoke night again." 

A snort escaped Yosuke. "Not again, Partner. That went terrible. Neither of us can sing for shit."

Now it was Souji's turn to laugh, making sure to lean forward and boop Yosuke on the nose goofily. "No, no, you have the voice of an angel."

Laughing and blushing, Yosuke jokingly punched the other male in the arm. "Oh, shut up, nerd." 

"Speaking of being a nerd," Souji hummed, sitting up on the futon and crawling over Yosuke, making sure to knock the other man to the floor in the process. Once they were both standing, Souji knelt down again and pulled a box from underneath his bed. 

A flush of red stuck to Yosuke's face like a mask. "Souj," he said in an embarrassed tone, "what does your porn collection have to do with being a nerd?"

With a funny grimace on his face, Souji shook his head roughly. "It's not my porn, ya dingus. That's the other box, and you've already seen that one, anyways."

Knowing it was true, Yosuke nodded his head and knelt down beside the silver-haired male. "So, what is it?"

Smirking proudly, Souji lifted the elderly console out of its box, holding it gingerly. 

"Dude!" Yosuke whisper-hollered, since Dojima and Nanako were both asleep downstairs. "Where'd you find this?" 

Softly pulling two controllers out of the box as well, Souji gave Yosuke a sly smile. "Just bought this baby at a pawn shop the other day. Thought it would be small enough to take to college with me, but, ya know," he stared into Yosuke's eyes, "I haven't played with it yet." 

Yosuke rolled his eyes at the shameless flirting Souji was doing and stood up, "I'm gonna go grab us some sodas, what kind do you want?" 

Grinning, Souji lifted his eyes from his treasured console to his treasured friend. "Oh, you know what I like."

Shaking his head and chuckling softly, Yosuke made his way down the stairs. It was kind of funny that he did know exactly what flavor Souji wanted. Grabbing a melon soda and an orange soda out of the fridge, Yosuke skidded back up the stairs, and when he opened the door, he found the lights turned off, except for the TV. Right in front of it sat Souji with two controllers and a wide smile. Sitting down beside the grinning teen, Yosuke knew it was going to be a good night. 

"Are you ready to lose at Mortal Kombat?" Souji challenged, clicking his eyes against Yosuke's. 

"Oh, you're on, Partner!" Yosuke chided in response, his lips in a tight smirk as they started their first battle. 

By their tenth, they were exhausted. The two clambered into Souji's futon clumsily, with Souji of course making some-sort of flirtaous remark about Yosuke being in bed with him, but the brunette just shook it off with a laugh, and they both lay on their sides so they were staring at eachother. Usually, the eye contact was too much and one would turn away, because it was always an invisible battle for dominance, but recently they had stopped the war, and now they were calling it a truce. 

It was a small futon, and the tiny space would press their legs together if they moved them forward at all, but it was always funny to them, so they let their legs tangle together like fish in a net and laughed at it, but left them together 'for warmth.' With one final stare at each other, they both fluttered their eyes closed and fell fast asleep. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A few weeks later, the blonde bouncing bear sat in his and Yosuke's room, tidying up his expensive clothes and trying to hide 'pawsicles' in his drawer, when his cellphone rang. 

With a cheerful voice, Teddie shouted into the phone, "Yes, this is Teddie speaking, what can I help you with?"

"Hey, Teddie. Is Yosuke home?" It was Sensei! The bear bounced from foot to foot and smiled widely. 

"I'm sorry sensei, but Yosuke isn't home. He's working his tail off today. Why? Are you bored? Because if you're bored, the great and cuddly Teddie would LOVE to spend time with you!" The bear's voice was extra-shrill and excited today, and Souji cringed a bit at the sound. 

"Sorry, Teddie, but I didn't call because I wanted to spend time with anyone." 

"Oh." Teddie huffed sadly, "well, why did you call, then?"

"I have a few questions." Souji explained, smiling into the phone. 

"Well, ask away, Sensei!" Teddie beamed. "I'm sure that I can help! I am beary smart, after all!"

"You are." Souji complimented, chuckling softly. "So, has Yosuke still been talking about that concert?"

"The Nicknack one? Yeah! He won't stop moaning and groaning about it. He's so desbearate to go, Sensei." 

Making sure to pretend to laugh at the pun, Souji nodded and walked aimlessly around his room. "Do you think there's any chance his dad would let him go?"

"I don't think so, Sensei. His dad's been bearating him a pawful lot, and I think he really doesn't want Yosuke to go to that concert."

"I see." Souji said rather lowly, raising his voice back up quickly. "Do you think you could do me a favor and convince Yosuke's dad to let him go if I help out a lot around Junes?"

"I guess I could, but Sensei, why do you want Yosuke to go to the concert so badly?"

Seesawing from foot to foot, Souji drew in a tense breath. "Well, I just know he really wants to go, and he might not get another chance like this." 

Silence took over the opposite end of the line for a minute, before a tiny voice squeaked. "Sensei, do you.. do you love Yosuke?" 

Nervously, Souji sat down on his futon and drummed his phone-free hand against his knee. "Why'd you.. why'd you think of that all of a sudden, Teddie?"

Proudly, Teddie laughed, "Well, it's not too hard to figure out! I might not be Nao-chan, but I am a beary smart bear! And Yosuke's been going over to your house more than anyone else, you both are always staring at eachother, and Nanako-chan says that you guys have been sleeping facing eachother!" Laughing, Teddie added with an excited tone, "and that concert sure sounds like a date!" 

Shocked, Souji shook his head to wake up. "You.. you are a smart bear, Teddie."

"So, I'm right? You wanna score with Yosuke?" Teddie asked innocently.

Normally, Souji would try to fight those words, but the shock was still glowering in him, and he brushed it off instead. "Yeah."

"Sweet!" Teddie cheered, bouncing on his feet. "So, I should try to convince Yosuke's dad to let you take him on a date, right?" 

"Kinda," Souji said, swallowing a lump in his throat, "you can't call it a date in front of Yosuke's dad."

"Well, why not?" Teddie huffed out. 

Shaking his head sadly, Souji cleared his throat again. "Some people don't like it when two boys or two girls go out on a date. Yosuke's dad is one of them, and he might get mad if Yosuke goes on a date with a boy." 

The line was silent until a grumble escaped the bear. "That's so weird. I mean, it's just like if I took a girl on a date. It's no different." 

"I know." Souji mumbled sadly.

"So, I have to say that you'd be going as friends, instead?" Teddie asked, changing the subject a little. 

"Yeah, that'd be best. Oh, and obviously, don't tell Yosuke. I want it to be a surprise when I get the tickets." 

"Awh, Sensei! That's beary romantic! I'm sure Yosuke will be excited!" Teddie exclaimed, stuffing his pawsicles a little farther into his underwear drawer.

"I hope so." Souji chuckled at Teddie's encouragement. "I don't know if he loves me back like that or not."

"Hmmm," Teddie hummed in thought, "he's never said that he does, but I think he does."

Souji shook his head, laughing lightly. "Okay, Teddie. So, can you do that for me? Can you convince his dad?" 

"I sure can! And I'm the best bear for the job!" 

"You sure are." 

A phone click later and Teddie was off to ask a certain man some questions.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Yosuke noticed it quickly. Teddie was hiding something. Now, Yosuke wasn't quite sure what he was hiding, but the bear was acting quite suspicious. Teddie would make sure to never be working in the same area as Yosuke, and anytime he spot Yosuke approaching him, he always seemed to have an excuse to leave. 

This would end today, though, Yosuke decided. He simply went up to his room early and skipped dinner for the night--which was leftovers, anyways--and sat on his bed, waiting. Usually, Teddie would go to bed first, and he would pretend to be asleep if Yosuke tried asking him anything. But this time, when Teddie creaked the door open, there was no way he could hide. 

"What are you hiding?" Yosuke sneered instantly, startling the bear, who frowned.

"I'm not hiding anything, Yosuke." 

The glare on Yosuke's face said that he was not satisfied with the answer, though. Standing from his bed, Yosuke ambled around the room like Teddie was a criminal being interrogated. There were no candy wrappers in the room, and there was nothing out of place in the room, so Yosuke assumed it was something nonphysical. Aha! A secret.

Now, Yosuke wasn't one to pry into other people's lives and take their secrets like souvenirs, but if Teddie of all people knew, the secret couldn't be something terribly big, since Teddie snapped easily under pressure. "Are you hiding something about Rise?"

Teddie wiggled his nose in surprise. "No."

"Then it's about Chie." Yosuke muttered, turning to face the bear. 

"No!" Teddie whined. "And I can't tell you what it is! It's important that you don't know."

Now, Yosuke was a bit offended. "Why can't I know? Is it about me?" 

Teddie looked down. He messed up. 

"It's about me, isn't it?" Yosuke asked again, and Teddie didn't raise his eyes. "So, it's about me." 

"It's no-not something bad, Yosuke, but you can't know! It's a surprise."

Shaking his head, Yosuke looked at the bear and grimaced. "I'm not gonna fall for that. There are no holidays coming up, and it's far from my birthday. So it's not a surprise." 

Teddie whined. "Y-yes it is! It's just a little hard to explain! But, by Sensei's orders--" Teddie slammed his paws over his mouth when he realized he uttered a clue. 

"Sensei, eh? So, Partner's talking about me behind my back?" 

"No!" Teddie grumbled. "Like I said, it's not something bad! It's something really good!" 

"No, you've said enough. I just wanna know where I messed up. What did I do to him..?" Yosuke seemed crestfallen, and at a loss for words, Teddie sighed and wobbled over to Yosuke. 

"I've told you, it's something good! Sensei wouldn't wanna ever hurt you." 

"I thought that, too. But, he's gotta hate me if he's talking about me behind my back." Yosuke fumbled with his headphones' cords. "God, Partner hates me."

Angrily, Teddie forced himself in front of Yosuke so Yosuke was practically required to look at the bear. "Stop that! Sensei cares about you very much! And you know it! In fact, Sensei said to me that he wants to score with you!" The bear's eyes went wide. "Oh no.. look what you've made me do! You made me tell some of Sensei's secret! He's gonna be so mad at me, now!" Teddie cried, throwing Yosuke's closet door open and crawling into his little room. "F-forget I said anything!" Teddie sniffled, slamming the closet door back shut. 

Yosuke just sat in silence, staring at the empty air in front of him.

He had a lot to think about, and he didn't know where to start.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Yosuke wanted to talk. He had to. Having heard that his best friend 'wanted to score with him,' which he assumed was Teddie's weird way of saying that Souji was in love with him, he had thought about it a lot. And somehow, he came to the decision that if Souji did ask him out, he wouldn't say no. 

Now, his answer wasn't an excited yes that someone being proposed to might say, but it was a yes. Kind of. It was a 'I'll give this relationship a try because I kind of like you, too, but I don't know if it'll work out because you're my best friend' kind of yes. There was no way in hell Yosuke would ask himself, because Souji could have very well been joking and Teddie could have taken it seriously, but he was ready if he was asked. 

And all he did now was wait. 

And wait,

And... wait.

Was Souji ever going to ask him out? Yosuke was beginning to doubt Teddie's words he heard a few weeks ago. In fact, he hadn't really seen Souji around at all, which was strange. Yosuke even asked around their friend group, and the only one who had seen him was Teddie, who now refused to talk to Yosuke much at all so he didn't give away anything else about his secret. 

Finally, Yosuke spotted the missing leader oneday. In the produce section of Junes. Wearing a little orange cap and name tag. "Hey Partner," Yosuke said, a little confused about the fact that Souji was wearing a worker's uniform. "What's with the, uh," Yosuke motioned to the uniform and Souji blushed a little and looked at the floor. 

"I'm just saving up a few extra bucks, ya know." 

The answer was good enough for him. "So, we haven't hung out lately. You haven't hung out with any of the Investigation Team at all, in fact."

"I hung out with Teddie." Souji said sheepishly, quickly grabbing a crate and moving it so he could hide his blushing face for a few moments at least. 

"Yeah, on the phone." Yosuke grumbled,taking the crate away from Souji and setting it back where he picked it up from. "What's digging at you, Partner? You've got bags under your eyes, you haven't responded to any of my texts, you've been avoiding us... is something wrong?" 

Swiftly, Souji laughed and shook his head. "I'm fine, just been busy, I guess." He reached to grab the crate, but Yosuke grabbed his arm before he could pick it up. 

"Are you sure?" He whispered, and Souji smiled softly. 

"Of course. Now, I have to finish my shift," Souji picked up the crate now, "but I'll text you when I'm done, alright?" 

Yosuke nodded slowly. "Fine. Don't overwork yourself, okay?" 

Souji's eyes softened. "I won't." 

And with that, Souji bumbled off to put the crate in some other location. 

The text never came that night.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The next day, Yosuke glanced through the shifts people had been taking and realized that Souji's name wasn't on it at all. Taking the little notebook to his father, the confused teen pointed out the missing name. 

"Oh, Narukami," Yosuke's father laughed affectionately, "he's been doing a lot of volunteer work."

That was all he needed to hear. Yosuke put the booklet back where it belonged and camped himself up in his room for the day. 

 

At dinner time, Yosuke and his family sat down to enjoy the spaghetti dinner his mother made, but it didn't taste right. Yosuke was too upset to even enjoy the food. Without announcing why, Yosuke stood up and walked in powerful strides towards the door. "I'm going to the flood plain."

No one tried to stop him.

Once there, he sat down and breathed angrily for a few minutes before sloppily ripping his phone out of his pocket and typing away the words 'we need to talk asap, meet me at the flood plain' and slamming it on the grassy ground in front of him. The phone buzzed and told Yosuke that Souji was on his way. 

When the silver-haired teen sat beside him, Yosuke refused to look at him. He was mad, he was confused, and most of all, he was worried. 

"You were doing volunteer work." Yosuke muttered, shaking his head and glanced over at Souji, who stared at him sadly. 

"I-I can explain, Yosuke." 

"What is there to explain?" Yosuke laughed pitifully. "You've been stressing yourself out...over nothing. There's not money involved.. You told me you were just working there, that you were at least getting money out of it.. but...Souji, look at you!" 

The other male straightened his body up a bit when Yosuke yelled. He didn't say anything.

"The bag under your eyes have gotten worse, you look exhausted... what's the point of it? Did I do something?" 

"No, no, not at all, Yosuke. I've just--" Yosuke cut him off. 

"You've just been busy." 

Souji swallowed loudly.

"I just don't get it. What did I..what did I do? You've been ignoring me." Yosuke's eyes had small tears clinging like burrs to them, and they were starting to sting. "You're my.. best friend, and I've barely seen you in..what? Four weeks now? Shit." Yosuke wiped his eyes up a bit and lay down on the grass, encouraging Souji to join him. 

"I'm sorry, Yosuke," Souji mumbled, curling up closely to the other male as they lay under the starry sky. "I didn't know you were hurting so much." 

Yosuke just glimpsed at him and snickered softly. "Yeah. Pitiful, aren't I? Sobbing like a baby because I can't see my best friend everyday."

Frowning, Souji brushed a hair out of Yosuke's face. "Don't be so hard on yourself. It's my fault, after all." Souji lay his arm out as a silent invitation for Yosuke to scoot a little closer. 

Yosuke looked at Souji's arm, laughed, and rolled into his friend's embrace. Gently, Souji curled the arm up so it held Yosuke carefully. They lay in silence for a few minutes while they calmed their breathing, since they were not used to being in such a close position with anyone. 

It was nice. Cozy, even. Yosuke couldn't help but relax and he almost forgot why he was mad in the first place. Almost. "So, why were you doing volunteer work anyways?" Yosuke looked up into silver eyes and smiled. 

Souji sighed. "I'm sure Teddie's mentioned some sort of.. surprise, and... it's hard to explain unless I flat out tell you." 

Grimacing, Yosuke leaned his head on Souji's chest and closed his eyes. "I wish you would just tell me what it was."

A snort erupted from Souji. "It wouldn't be a surprise, then, would it, Yosuke?" 

Groaning, Yosuke gazed up at his pillow. "No, I guess not. But when will you tell me?"

"Tonight. Well, kind of. It's in an envelope, and you can't open it until you're home." 

Yosuke could feel his heartbeat skip a beat. Was it a love letter? "Fine. Well, I'm excited to read it."

Souji just hummed happily and wrapped his arms a little more tightly around Yosuke as if he would run off. A raspy whisper escaped the taller man. "I'm sorry for worrying you." 

Shyly, Yosuke reached his arms up and softly wiped his thumbs over Souji's hands. "It's alright, Partner. I'm okay." 

A few minutes later and it started to rain. 

The two boys stood up and ran until they found a tree to hid under. Both were shivering and soaked, but laughs erupted from them like hyenas. Once the rain let up, they trudged to Yosuke's house first. 

"Where's the letter?" Yosuke whispered, a small smile on his lips. 

A huge grin spread across Souji's face as he pulled the slightly damp envelope out of his back pocket. He handed it to Yosuke with care and watched in nervous glee as Yosuke snuck inside his house before stomping to the Dojima household. 

Once upstairs, Yosuke changed into some dry clothes and sat on his bed, ripping the envelope open and watching in surprise as three little slips of paper fell out; two pink and one white. He lifted one of the pink slips up and grinned extremely wide when he saw what it was. A ticket to see Nickelback. Wiping away a happy tear and shaking his head, Yosuke lifted the white paper up and grinned shyly. 

It read:

"I got your dad to let you go."

"Do you wanna go as:  
Friends or Boyfriends (Choose one only, please!)  
Text me the answer, please!

Love, (or Sincerely,)

Souji Seta"

Smiling a dork, Yosuke swiped his phone out of his pocket and texted the word "boyfriends" with a cute smiley emoji to his best friend. 

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~`

 

On the day of the concert, Yosuke was clinging desperately to Souji's hand as they waited for the band to get on stage. Like many of the other people there, Yosuke screamed when they arrived. 

Throughout the concert, Yosuke went through a wide arrange of emotions, and Souji spent almost the whole concert observing them lovingly. At one point, they were playing a love song, and Yosuke glanced over at Souji with a fat smile on his face, and whispered, "this song makes me think of us."

Souji just let Yosuke tear up a little as he clung to his boyfriend's arm like wet laundry. 

Later the same night, Souji and Yosuke were outside of Yosuke's house, sitting on the curb and chatting idly. Yosuke went on and on about how happy he was and how good of a time he had, and when it was time to say goodnight, Yosuke pulled Souji down enough to kiss him passionately once. When they broke apart, they both smiled against eachothers' lips and laughed. Yosuke called him something like 'the best romantic partner ever' before sneaking into the dark house and going to sleep. 

The only thing that Souji could think of as he walked home was how it was the beginning of something beautiful and great. And it all started with a little band called Nickelback.


End file.
